PwC will increase its global headcount by more than a third over the next five years as part of a $12 billion investment in recruitment, training, technology and deals designed to capture a booming market for environmental, social and governance advice, the Financial Times reported.
According to the newspaper, the plan, announced on Tuesday, marks a significant acceleration from the audit and consulting group’s $7.4 billion investment since 2016, over which time its annual revenues grew by 20 per cent to $43 billion. The expansion will add 100,000 people to a workforce that has grown by more than a quarter, to 284,000 people, in the past five years.
It includes a $3 billion plan to double its Asia-Pacific business, which brought in $6.4bn in revenue in the year to June 2020, and the launch of “trust leadership institutes” in the US and Asia to train clients in business ethics and the rudiments of ESG, the FT report said.
Investors are increasingly scrutinising the social impact of the businesses they back and its effect on their financial returns, and PwC’s investment plan is the strongest signal yet that the Big Four accounting firms expect ESG advice to become a core part of all of their business lines, just as digital capabilities have become the norm over the past decade.
The investments are aimed at better advising companies that face increasing scrutiny from investors on issues such as data privacy, diversity and sustainability, said Tim Ryan, US chairman and senior partner at PwC.
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